FEATURED ARTICLES ABOUT CITY POLICE - PAGE 5

Baltimore Police have identified several recent homicide victims who were killed during a stretch that saw more than a murder a day. With apologies to CityPaper's Murder Ink feature, a list seemed to be the best way to convey the information. Murders as of 8/5/2012: 125 This time last year: 129 Difference: -4 (-3.1 percent) New identifications: July 30: Charles Johnson, 50, was found in the 1800 block of W. North Ave. around 4 a.m., lying next to the front steps of a home and suffering from a severe head injury.

A 31-year-old man with a violent criminal past has been sentenced to 30 years in prison for shooting a city police officer in Baltimore's downtown, which sparked a running gun battle with tactical officers who pursued the gunman up North Calvert Street. Prosecutors said Franklin J. Gross Sr., whose last known address was on Liberty Heights Avenue in Northwest Baltimore, pleaded guilty in Circuit Court to attempted first-degree murder and using a handgun in a crime of violence. The officer he shot, Todd A. Strohman, had been on the force just one year when he was wounded in the shoulder while patrolling North Calvert and East Baltimore streets in the early morning hours of Nov. 27, 2010.

Police were investigating two killings in South Baltimore on Wednesday, including a double shooting in Cherry Hill that left a 24-year-old woman dead. At about 11:45 p.m., police were called to the 2700 block of Claflin Court for a report of a shooting and found Randol Buncombe suffering from multiple gunshot wounds. She was pronounced dead a short time later at Maryland Shock Trauma Center. A second man, who police said was 26, was also struck, in the buttocks, but was expected to survive.

Over the span of two hours late Monday, Baltimore police investigated three shootings, according to the department's Twitter account: •Police reported about 9:30 p.m. that a male was shot at the intersection of East Preston and North Aisquith streets in Oliver. •Another shooting was reported about 10 p.m.: a male in the 4800 block of Liberty Heights Avenue in Gwynn Oak. •About 11:40 p.m., police reported that a man was shot in the 1600 block of Delano Court in Sandtown-Winchester.

Baltimore Police are investigating a non-fatal shooting that took place in the Midtown District of West Baltimore early Sunday morning. Officers responding to a call they shortly before 5 a.m. arrived at a fire station in the 2200 block of West Edmondson Ave. to find a 19-year-old male who had suffered a gunshot wound in the hand. The victim, who had come to the station seeking help, was transferred to an area hospital, where he was reported to be in stable condition as of Sunday night, police spokesman Kevin Brown said.

John Ellis "Bo" Blackwell, one of the first African-Americans to be appointed to the Baltimore Police Department, who overcame racism and enjoyed a 30-year career with the department, died Oct. 30 of respiratory failure at Sinai Hospital. The Ellicott City resident was 83. "John was a pioneering African-American officer and he kept us focused. We stand on his shoulders," said Edward V. Woods, who served as police commissioner from 1989 to 1993. "Thank God for people like John who always gave his all. We are a better community for it and the department is now a healthy and representative mixture of people," said Mr. Woods.

Baltimore police have identified a man shot and killed in the Franklintown neighborhood Thursday as 23-year-old Antoine Ellis. Officers responded to the 2000 block of Forest Park Ave. for reports of gunfire shortly after 2 p.m. and found Ellis suffering from gunshot wounds to the head, police said. He was taken to an area hospital, where he died of his wounds at 2:40 p.m. Police believe Ellis was shot while he was standing near a bench on a baseball field and are continuing to investigate.

As officers lingered outside his Northwest Baltimore home for three hours, Anthony Todd was busy inside trying to cover up evidence of a marijuana-growing operation, police say. His pants had fresh dirt on them from squeezing through a crawl space to hide what police say was a pound of loose marijuana, and he told officers he had spent the time before they entered the home tearing apart the marijuana plants and flushing them down the toilet....